A new study has pretty much confirmed what researchers already found several years ago. Swearing can alleviate pain!

A 2009 study in England revealed that participants holding their hands in ice cold water for as long as their senses would allow, lasted about 40 seconds longer if they were belting out F-bombs, S-bombs, and other sorts of bombs.

The Scientific American, which published the 2009 study, states:

"How swearing achieves its physical effects is unclear, but the researchers speculate that brain circuitry linked to emotion is involved."

The current study, however, shows that frequent cursers were only able to withstand the icy water for just ten seconds longer, compared to when they did not swear, leaving the researchers to speculate:

"Swearing as a response to pain might be beneficial, [but] there is evidence that if you swear too often in everyday situations the power of swearing won't be there when you really might need it."

Inneresting.

We imagine swearing has the distraction effect of squeezing something very tight or diverting the pain somewhere else on the body when experiencing pain.

However, both studies do seem to prove that cursing is a normal reaction to pain. So next time somebody breaks a leg, don't give them a hard time for dropping a couple cuss words!